Syracuse: History

The Coming of Rome

In
264, one of the Roman consuls,
Appius
Claudius Caudex, invaded Sicily
with two legions and captured
Messana:
the First
Punic
War had broken out. The Carthaginians
now allied itself to
Syracuse
-a most unusual action- and marched from their base at Acragas to
Messana.
Fighting was inconclusive, but Hiero of Syracuse witnessed the power of
Rome, allied himself to the invader, and was recognized as amicus et socius,
"fiend and ally" (263). Technically, the city was independent, but it
soon lost its autonomy.

Next summer, the Romans
laid siege to Acragas and captured the Carthaginian base (early 261),
which
had been defended by the same Hannibal
who had garrisoned Messana.
However,
after these successes, the Roman war machine came to as standstill. The
Carthaginians refused to accept Roman control of the Strait, and the
Romans
understood that they had to conquer the entire island. This meant that
they had to gain naval superiority - something that would be very
difficult,
because the Romans were no sailors.

It was a conflict between an elephant and a whale, which
could go on
forever. However, the Romans had a secret weapon, called corvus
('raven' or 'crow'). This was a movable bridge with a metal prong that
could be dropped onto the deck of a Carthaginian ship. Once the two
ships
were tied to each other, the naval battle had changed into a land
battle.
In other words, the Romans used their ships as platforms for fighting.
In 260, at Mylae, their consul Gaius Duillius defeated admiral
Hannibal,
and won Rome's first naval victory ever.

Yet, this victory was indecisive, and the war was to last very, very
long. The Carthaginian commander Hamilcar
was able to defend the western part of the island; and every Roman
success
was balanced by either a Carthaginian victory, Roman stupidity, or bad
luck (e.g., the loss of a fleet in a storm). However, the Roman consul
Gaius Atilius Regulus, having overcome the Carthaginian navy at Ecnomus,
was able to repeat the invasion of Africa that had once been the
masterplan of Agathocles of Syracuse, and although he was
defeated,
it was clear that Rome was the strongest of the two contenders. It had
the resources to raise large armies and build new fleets, and most of
all: it had a powerful ally, Syracuse.

The final
years
of the war looked like a stalemate on western Sicily, where Hamilcar
fought
a guerilla war, but only the Romans was able to recuperate. In 241, a
new
Roman fleet, commanded by Gaius Lutatius Catulus, overcame the last
Carthaginian
ships, commanded by Hanno,
near the Aegatian islands in the far west. A peace treaty was signed,
and
Carthage accepted Roman rule in Sicily. According to the Greek
historian Polybius
of Megalopolis, it had been "the longest and
most severely contested
war in history" (World History, 1.63.4-5).

From now on, Sicily was a province
of Rome - the first one, and it is interesting to see how the Romans
organized
the island, because this became a model to the organization of new
conquests.
In the first place, the Roman system of alliances was not extended to
Sicily.
It would be useless to ask the Sicilians to send troops to, say,
northern
Italy, and fight against the Gauls. Therefore, the Romans demanded a
yearly
tribute. The Sicilian tyrants had done the same, and this was a better
way to run the cities, which retained their local autonomy.

A Roman magistrate, a praetor,
was responsible for the administration of the island; his powers were
almost
unlimited, and the inhabitants of the island must have thought of him
as
some sort of tyrant. His financial officers, the two quaestores,
demanded 10% of the harvest and had the prior right to buy additional
wheat
at a fixed prize. This system, called the Lex Hieronica
after the Syracusan ruler, was widely
regarded as a fair compromise between the demands of the rulers and the
possibilities of the ruled. The Romans would employ it in Andalusia too.

So, the Romans conquered Sicily and learned how to
organize their conquests
as provinces. In fact, they copied the Syracusan system. The island
remained
quiet, and a city like Syracuse benefitted. King Hiero had money to
spend: the theater was expanded, a large altar was built, and a new
royal castle was built. The foundations for economic prosperity,
although with little autonomy, were laid and Sicily remained
quiet, even when Carthage and Rome started a second war in
218.
During this Second Punic War, which became famous as Rome's war against
Hannibal,
Sicily was not the main war zone. Yet, Syracuse did not escape
violence.

In 215 the loyal Hiero died, and his grandson Hieronymus
immediately
sided with Carthage. The Roman general Marcellus,
however, was able to keep the island and laid siege to Syracuse.
According
to the stories, the scientist Archimedes
designed all kinds of machines to defend the city (although the famous story about the burning mirrors is untrue), but eventually, the
city was betrayed, and the Romans sacked Syracuse. Archimedes was among
the casualties.

Syracuse, once an ally of Rome, was now annexed to the
Roman
empire. All of
Sicily had been conquered.